God will meet you where you are

A personal story about Motherhood

Have you ever struggled with reading your Bible due to a lack of time and exhaustion? I have been there a time or two and my friend Bella Easterbrook from Over the Teacups knows exactly what that is like, she is a new mom.

I invited Bella over to the blog today to hopefully bring you some insight and encouragement regarding how God is able to meet us where we’re at. Check out her personal below.

Bella's Story

When it comes to Bible reading, I (Bella) have always been a notebook and pens sort of girl. I love digging deep into Scripture and writing down all my observations, all that God is saying to me. When I had my first son, though, I found myself near constantly tied to my couch, breastfeeding or holding him while he slept.

This precious time to sit at my desk for Bible study was proving to be very elusive. Not to mention the exhaustion that so often comes with the newborn stage. Even if I could make it to my desk, my mind was too tired to approach the Scripture as I usually did.

In this season of newborn haze, God gave me a new way of hearing his voice. He placed it on my heart to read Philippians. And instead of meeting with God at my desk, I opened the Word at night while breastfeeding the baby, Bible balanced in one hand.

A New Way to Read

I read a few verses at a time, and slowly made my way through Philippians. Such a different way of reading the Bible than I was used to.

During those late-night feeds, my mind was foggy and I could barely keep my eyes open. Yet, in these times, I felt God speak to me and draw close in a way I’d hardly known before.

Through these verses of Philippians, God spoke directly into my situation. I could rejoice through all circumstances, whether the baby was sleeping or not. I could bring every worrying mother’s thought to God in prayer and receive the peace that passes understanding.

Lingering longer

I often stayed a few days in one small passage, reading it over and over, resting in its truth. When I finished reading Philippians, I sensed God telling me to go right back to the beginning and read it again. I ended up reading the book three times before I moved on to something new.

For my second son, God had me in a similar place but, this time, in the gospel of Luke. Staying close to Jesus by traveling slowly through his ministry on earth.

He is strong in my weakness

Through my weakness, God’s strength shone brightly. By stripping away all my usual traditions and comforts, the sufficiency of God’s Word revealed by his Spirit was made clear.

We are blessed to have so many tools and techniques to help us with Bible reading. In some seasons of life, we can go deep with inductive study, original languages, and historical contexts. What an incredible opportunity this is.

In other seasons, as I discovered, we simply open up the Word and linger slowly. There’s such freedom in the way we engage with the Bible. For, when we get to the heart of it, the essential thing isn’t our Bible reading method of choice. God’s Word is what’s truly essential, living, and active to speak into our lives.

How about You?

Where are you at the moment? Are you in a season of abundance, with time and energy to spare? Or maybe it’s a season of weakness, something new and unfamiliar? God’s Word is sufficient for whatever we’re going through. Wherever life has you, open your Bible and trust that God will meet you where you are.